Longeveron Inc. (NASDAQ: LGVN)

The QualityStocks Daily Newsletter would like to spotlight Longeveron Inc. (NASDAQ: LGVN) .

Longeveron (NASDAQ: LGVN), a clinical-stage, regenerative-medicine biotechnology company developing cellular therapies for rare, life-threatening and chronic aging-related conditions, has entered into definitive agreements for the issue and sale of shares of Class A common stock. According to the announcement, the registered direct offering is comprised of up to 2,236,026 shares of LGVN Class A common stock (or common stock equivalents in lieu thereof) issued at a purchase price of $4.025 per share. The company also announced a concurrent private placement that includes issuing and selling of unregistered warrants for to an aggregate of 2,236,026 shares of Class A common stock. The exercise price of the unregistered warrants will be $3.90 per share; the warrants will be immediately exercisable for up to 24 months following the date of issuance. The company anticipates gross proceeds from the offering, which is expected to close on or about July 19, 2024, to reach an estimated $9 million before the deduction of fees and expenses. Longeveron plans to use the funds for ongoing clinical and regulatory development of Lomecel-B(TM) as well as capital expenditures, working capital and other general corporate purposes. H.C. Wainwright & Co. is acting as the exclusive placement agent for the offering.

To view the full press release, visit https://ibn.fm/Afjqm

Longeveron Inc. (NASDAQ: LGVN) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing regenerative medicines to address unmet medical needs for specific aging-related and life-threatening conditions. The Company’s research and therapies are aimed at improving the outcome of infants born with a life-threatening heart condition, as well as improving the healthspan for the aging population – the number of years a person is expected to live in relatively good health, free of chronic disease and disabilities of aging, with function and ability to perform activities of daily living.

Longeveron is involved in clinical trials in the following indications: Hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), Alzheimer’s disease, and Aging-related Frailty.

The Company’s philosophy revolves around the idea that regenerative medicine may hold the potential to improve certain rare medical conditions and contribute to healthy aging. While there has been a remarkable rise in life expectancy over the last century due to medical and public health advancements, this increase in longevity has not been paralleled by the number of years a person is expected to live in relatively good health, free of chronic disease and disabilities of aging.

Longeveron’s lead investigational product is Lomecel-B™, an allogeneic Medicinal Signaling Cell therapy product isolated from the bone marrow of young, healthy adult donors. As humans age, they experience a decrease in immune system function, a decline in blood vessel functioning, chronic inflammation, and other issues. Clinical data has suggested that Lomecel-B™ may address these conditions through multiple mechanisms of action (MOA) that simultaneously target key aging-related processes.

The Company is headquartered in Miami, Florida.

Lomecel-B™

Lomecel-B™ is being evaluated in multiple clinical trials for aging-related chronic diseases and other life-threatening conditions under U.S. FDA-approved Investigational New Drug applications. Lomecel-B™ has multiple potential mechanisms of action encompassing pro-vascular, pro-regenerative, anti-inflammatory, and tissue repair and healing effects with broad potential applications across a spectrum of disease areas.

The drug is made from special living cells called Medicinal Signaling Cells (MSCs) that are isolated from fresh bone marrow tissue that has been donated by adult donors aged 18 to 45. Once the MSCs have been isolated from the fresh bone marrow through a careful selection process, the cells are culture-expanded (allowed to replicate under controlled laboratory conditions) into the billions using specialized techniques and processes. After a specific number of expansion cycles, called “passages,” the cells are harvested, separated into specific doses (e.g., 50 million cells), and cryopreserved until future use.

These cells have been shown to have characteristics that allow them to be transplanted from a donor to host without triggering a harmful immune response in the recipient, and they can be administered on an outpatient basis in as little as 40 minutes after thawing. Because of these characteristics, Lomecel-B™ is considered an “off-the-shelf” product.

In some trials, such as for Alzheimer’s disease and Aging-related Frailty, Lomecel-B™ is administered via peripheral intravenous infusion, while, in the Company’s HLHS trial, Lomecel-B™ is administered via direct injection into the heart tissue.

Market Opportunity

Longeveron estimates the potential market size for Lomecel-B™ in the treatment of HLHS to be up to $1 billion annually, globally.

U.S. patients suffering from Aging-related Frailty are estimated using U.S. Census Bureau statistics to be approximately 8.1 million. That population potentially represents a market for Lomecel-B™ of between $4 billion and $8 billion globally per year, according to Company estimates.

Additionally, the Alzheimer’s Association puts the number of Americans with that disease at 5.1 million, highlighting another potentially addressable market for Lomecel-B™, that’s worth $5 billion to $10 billion annually.

Management Team

Wa’el Hashad is CEO of Longeveron. He has more than 35 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. He has launched several successful brands in the U.S. and worldwide markets. Prior to joining Longeveron, he was president and CEO of Avanir Pharmaceuticals. Before Avanir, he was the chief commercial officer of Seres Therapeutics. He also has held senior leadership positions at Amgen, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Eli Lilly and Company. He holds a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from Cairo University and an MBA from the University of Akron.

Joshua M. Hare, M.D., FACC, FAHA, is Co-Founder, Chief Science Officer and Chairman of Longeveron. He is a double board-certified cardiologist and is the founding director of the Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine. He is a recipient of the Paul Beeson Physician Faculty Scholar in Aging Research Award and is an elected member of the American Association of Physicians and The American Society for Clinical Investigation. He is also an elected Fellow of the American Heart Association. He received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and his M.D. from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Lisa Locklear is CFO at Longeveron. She previously served as the senior vice president and CFO for Avanir Pharmaceuticals. Prior to Avanir, she held senior financial roles at GSN Games, CoreLogic, Ingram Micro, the Walt Disney Company, and Price Waterhouse, with assignments in Paris and London. She holds a bachelor’s degree in plant science from the University of California, Davis, and an MBA from the University of California, Irvine. She is a licensed CPA (inactive) and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the California Society of CPAs, and Financial Executives International.

Dr. Nataliya Agafonova, M.D., is the Chief Medical Officer at Longeveron. She previously served as clinical development lead, senior medical director, and product development chair at Otsuka Pharmaceuticals. Before that, she was the clinical development lead and senior medical director at Bristol-Myers Squibb. She previously held senior leadership positions at Ardea Bioscience, Biogen, Amgen, and Genzyme Corporation. She earned an M.D. from the Ukrainian National Medical University and completed her internal medicine residency at Kharkov State University Hospital in Ukraine.

Certain statements in this corporate profile that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which reflect management’s current expectations, assumptions, and estimates of future operations, performance and economic conditions, and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by the statements made herein. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “believe,” “expects,” “may,” “looks to,” “will,” “should,” “plan,” “intend,” “on condition,” “target,” “see,” “potential,” “estimates,” “preliminary,” or “anticipates” or the negative thereof or comparable terminology, or by discussion of strategy or goals or other future events, circumstances, or effects. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements in this release include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the offer and sale of securities, the terms of the offering, about the ability of Longeveron’s clinical trials to demonstrate safety and efficacy of the Company’s product candidates, and other positive results; the timing and focus of the Company’s ongoing and future preclinical studies and clinical trials and the reporting of data from those studies and trials; the size of the market opportunity for the Company’s product candidates, including its estimates of the number of patients who suffer from the diseases being targeted; the success of competing therapies that are or may become available; the beneficial characteristics, safety, efficacy and therapeutic effects of the Company’s product candidates; the Company’s ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approval of its product candidates in the U.S., Japan and other jurisdictions; the Company’s plans relating to the further development of its product candidates, including additional disease states or indications it may pursue; the Company’s plans and ability to obtain or protect intellectual property rights, including extensions of existing patent terms where available and its ability to avoid infringing the intellectual property rights of others; the need to hire additional personnel and the Company’s ability to attract and retain such personnel; the Company’s estimates regarding expenses, future revenue, capital requirements and needs for additional financing; the Company’s need to raise additional capital, and the difficulties it may face in obtaining access to capital, and the dilutive impact it may have on its investors; the Company’s financial performance and ability to continue as a going concern, and the period over which it estimates its existing cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to fund its future operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements. Additionally, Longeveron makes no assurance that any public offering of its securities as described herein will occur on the timelines, in the manner or on the terms anticipated due to numerous factors. Further information relating to factors that may impact the Company’s results and forward-looking statements are disclosed in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Longeveron’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 14, 2023 and its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the second quarter of 2023 filed with the SEC on August 11, 2023. The forward-looking statements contained in this corporate profile are made as of the date of this corporate profile, and the Company disclaims any intention or obligation, other than imposed by law, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Investor Contact
Mike Moyer
LifeSci Advisors
Tel: 617-308-4306
Email: mmoyer@lifesciadvisors.com

Date prepared: August 31, 2023

Longeveron Inc. (NASDAQ: LGVN), closed Thursday's trading session at $3.25, off by 16.6667%, on 6,193,898 volume. The average volume for the last 3 months is and the stock's 52-week low/high is $0.7707/$36.50.

Recent News

• Longeveron Inc. (NASDAQ: LGVN) - InvestorNewsBreaks - Longeveron Inc. (NASDAQ: LGVN) Enters into $9M Registered Direct Offering
• InvestorNewsBreaks - Longeveron Inc.'s (NASDAQ: LGVN) Lomecel-B(TM) Granted Fast Track Designation for Treatment of Mild Alzheimer's Disease
• InvestorNewsBreaks - Longeveron Inc.'s (NASDAQ: LGVN) Lomecel-B(TM) Granted RMAT Designation for the Treatment of Mild Alzheimer's Disease

D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NYSE: QBTS)

The QualityStocks Daily Newsletter would like to spotlight D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NYSE: QBTS).

Majority of surveyed businesses actively engaged in quantum computing anticipate significant returns on investment ("ROI") from their quantum optimization efforts

Survey also highlights a significant increase in quantum adoption, with 21% of respondents either currently employing or planning to integrate quantum technology into production within the next 12 to 18 months

D-Wave has been named a finalist in the GameChanger Ambition category of the upcoming Technology Impact Awards ("TIAs") by the BC Tech Association

D-Wave Quantum (NYSE: QBTS), a leader in quantum computing systems, software, and services, and the world's first commercial supplier of quantum computers, recently announced the findings of a recent study it commissioned with Hyperion Research on enterprise quantum computing adoption plans. Notably, a majority of the surveyed businesses actively engaged in quantum computing anticipate significant returns on investment ("ROI") from their quantum optimization efforts. The potential combined positive financial impact is estimated to reach approximately $51.5 billion (https://ibn.fm/WklRF).

D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NYSE: QBTS) is a leader in quantum computing systems, software and services focused on delivering customer value via practical quantum applications for problems such as logistics, artificial intelligence, materials sciences, drug discovery, scheduling, fault detection and financial modeling. As the only provider building both annealing and gate-model quantum computers, the company is unlocking commercial use cases in optimization today, while building the technologies that will enable new solutions tomorrow.

D-Wave is a pioneer in quantum computing, with a history of delivering the world’s first commercial quantum computer; the first real-time quantum cloud service; countless hardware and software product and research milestones; and the planned first cross-platform quantum solution which will deliver both annealing and gate-model quantum computers to customers via an integrated platform. Its current commercial product offerings include: Advantage™ (fifth generation quantum computer), Leap™ (quantum cloud service), Launch™ (quantum computing onboarding service) and Ocean™ (full suite of open-source programming tools).

D-Wave’s relentless pursuit of practical quantum computing has resulted in the technology being used today by some of the world’s most advanced enterprises – more than 25 of the Forbes Global 2000 use D-Wave.

D-Wave’s commercial customers include blue-chip industry leaders like Volkswagen, Accenture, BBVA, NEC Corporation, Save-On-Foods, DENSO and Lockheed Martin. The company boasts an extensive IP portfolio featuring more than 200 issued U.S. patents and over 100 peer-reviewed papers published in leading scientific journals.

Founded in 1999, D-Wave is the world’s first commercial supplier of quantum computers. With headquarters and the Quantum Engineering Center of Excellence based near Vancouver, Canada, D-Wave’s U.S. operations are based in Palo Alto, California.

Advantage™ Quantum Computer

 

With the Advantage™ Quantum Computer, D-Wave has incorporated two decades of experience and over 10 years of customer feedback to create the first and only quantum computer designed for business. The platform features a new processor architecture with over 5,000 qubits and 15-way qubit connectivity. This is 2.5x more connections and more than double the number of qubits than the company’s previous generation quantum computer.

D-Wave’s quantum computers, first located in its facilities in British Columbia, have been available to North American users through its Leap™ quantum cloud service since 2018. It has since introduced new Advantage systems in Julich, Germany, and most recently, Marina Del Rey, California, which marked the availability of the first Advantage quantum computer physically located in the United States.

That new deployment is part of the USC-Lockheed Martin Quantum Computing Center (QCC) hosted at USC’s Information Sciences Institute (ISI), a unit of the University of Southern California’s prestigious Viterbi School of Engineering. Additionally, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and D-Wave announced that the U.S.-based system is available for use in Amazon 2racket, expanding the number to three different D-Wave quantum systems available to AWS users.

Leap Quantum Cloud Service

 

D-Wave’s customers interface with its systems through the Leap™ quantum cloud service. Leap delivers immediate, real-time access to the company’s Advantage quantum computer and quantum hybrid solver service, all with enterprise-class performance and scalability.

Leap allows developers proficient in Python to get started building and running quantum applications. Through a seamless and secure cloud-based connection, users can easily start solving complex problems of up to 1 million variables and 100,000 constraints.

Using Leap, D-Wave customers have developed quantum hybrid applications for use cases in manufacturing, logistics, financial services, life sciences, materials science, retail and transportation. By eliminating the need to wait hours, days or weeks to get good answers to a broad array of problems, D-Wave is helping businesses move forward.

D-Wave Launch

D-Wave Launch™ is the company’s onboarding platform aimed at helping businesses easily start their quantum journey. Through this program, D-Wave’s team of experts and partners aid enterprises in identifying best use cases for quantum and work with them to develop a proof of concept and production pilot.

From there, the team coordinates with customers to get their hybrid quantum applications up and running, providing ongoing Leap quantum cloud access to ensure the application is operating smoothly and delivering real business value.

Target Verticals

While the potential applications for quantum computing are effectively limitless, D-Wave has identified a number of industry verticals as key areas of focus for its quantum architecture, providing case studies for each. These include:

• Manufacturing – D-Wave worked with Volkswagen to identify a commercial optimization application, the binary paint shop problem, which was run on D-Wave’s hybrid solver service. The solver outperformed four purely classical methods on problem sizes at commercial scale (N=3,000). In a separate project, similar inputs were tested using a leading ion trap system, which failed to find any commercial solution.
• Life Sciences – Menten AI makes use of D-Wave quantum computing to assist in the design of novel therapeutic peptides—short strings of amino acids that can act as potent drugs. With the rise of COVID-19, D-Wave’s Advantage system made it possible to identify molecules that might be especially well-suited for binding and inhibiting the related spike protein, producing several promising peptide designs.
• Finance – Multiverse Computing, a leader in developing quantum solutions for the financial sector, leveraged D-Wave’s hybrid solver service in a collaboration with BBVA, one of the world’s largest financial institutions. Multiverse demonstrated management strategies that far exceeded the granularity of traditional returns in a fraction of the time, helping BBVA identify a low-risk portfolio for investment.

Market Opportunity

The quantum computing total addressable market is projected to grow between $450 billion and $850 billion over the next 15 to 30 years, with between $5 billion and $10 billion of anticipated TAM growth coming in the next three to five years, according to Boston Consulting Group. Driving factors behind this growth include rising investments in quantum computing tech by governments and an increasing number of commercial use-cases.

Forward-thinking organizations see quantum as an opportunity to move ahead of the competition. From finding efficiencies and reducing waste to decreasing time to solution and solving problems abandoned due to complexity, the business value is real. According to data from 451 Research, 40% of large enterprises are already experimenting with quantum computing.

D-Wave is strategically positioned – in an industry with significant barriers to entry – as evident by a decades-long track record serving a roster of blue-chip customers. The company is singularly focused on helping its customers achieve clear value by leveraging quantum computing in practical business applications. With a full stack of systems, software, developer tools and services, D-Wave is working to enable enterprises, governments, developers and researchers to access the power of quantum computing, thereby providing an intriguing opportunity for prospective investors.

D-Wave’s current investor base includes PSP Investments, Goldman Sachs, BDC Capital, NEC Corporation, Aegis Group Partners and In-Q-Tel.

Leadership Team

Dr. Alan Baratz has served as the CEO of D-Wave since 2020. Previously, as Executive Vice President of R&D and Chief Product Officer, he drove the development, delivery, and support of all of D-Wave’s products, technologies, and applications. Dr. Baratz has over 25 years of experience in product development and bringing new products to market at leading technology companies and software startups. As the first president of JavaSoft at Sun Microsystems, he oversaw the growth and adoption of the Java platform from its infancy to a robust platform supporting mission-critical applications in nearly 80 percent of Fortune 1000 companies. He has also held executive positions at Symphony, Avaya, Cisco, and IBM. Dr. Baratz holds a doctorate in computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

John Markovich is the company’s CFO. He brings to D-Wave over three decades of experience working with rapidly growing private and public technology companies across all stages of development. Mr. Markovich has directed the finance, accounting, tax, treasury, M&A, legal, operations, customer service, IR, HR, and IT functions for companies ranging from privately held pre-revenue startups to an NYSE-listed Fortune 500 multi-national company with over $1.2 billion in annual revenue. During his career, he has negotiated and closed over 150 debt, equity, M&A, and joint venture transactions exceeding $2.5 billion in value; over a dozen private placements; nearly a dozen M&A transactions; and several international joint ventures. Mr. Markovich holds a BS in Business from Miami University and an MBA from the Michigan State Graduate School of Business.

D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NYSE: QBTS), closed Thursday's trading session at $1.07, off by 6.9565%, on 5,385,537 volume. The average volume for the last 3 months is and the stock's 52-week low/high is $0.57/$3.20.

Recent News

• D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NYSE: QBTS) - D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NYSE: QBTS) Reveals Findings of Hyperion Research Quantum Optimization ROI Study and Announces Nomination for Technology Impact Awards
• Samsung Anticipates Profit Jump After Incorporating AI
• InvestorNewsBreaks - D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NYSE: QBTS) Expands Joint Commercial Partnership with Leading Provider of Generative AI Software Solutions

Fathom Nickel Inc. (CSE: FNI) (FSE: 6Q5) (OTCQB: FNICF)

The QualityStocks Daily Newsletter would like to spotlightFathom Nickel Inc. (CSE: FNI) (FSE: 6Q5) (OTCQB: FNICF).

Nickel demand is expected to grow at a continually accelerating rate over the coming years and decades

By 2040, use in batteries will command 41% of total nickel usage, up from just 7% in 2021

Nickel is considered one of the most strategically vulnerable critical metals in North America or the west

Like Canada's Critical Minerals Infrastructure Fund ("CMIF"), the west has been making increasing efforts to encourage critical metal exploration and extraction

Fathom is developing two highly prospective projects in Canada's Trans-Hudson Corridor in Saskatchewan

Fathom has received a new drill permit that allows for up to 60 drill holes, a 25-person camp, and more, as the company advances its Gochager Lake Project

Fathom Nickel (CSE: FNI) (FSE: 6Q5) (OTCQB: FNICF), focused on the exploration for nickel, cobalt and copper in north-central Saskatchewan, has provided the preliminary results from the field exploration program at its 22,000+ ha Gochager Lake Property. The program comprised mapping, prospecting, detailed soil geochemistry analysis and detailed in-field core analysis. Key highlights include the existence of good outcrop exposure within the mapped area, providing the opportunity to collect 50 outcrop samples for whole rock and geochemical analysis and 554 chip samples for pXRF scanning; mineralization of up to 20,647ppm Ni (2.06% Ni), 6,922ppm Cu and 1,295ppm Co, which was noted in pXRF scans of outcrop material; and identification of zones of magmatic sulphide Ni occurring with coincident elevated Cr (chrome), with Ni-tenors equal to and greater than those noted at the Gochager Lake deposit occurring to the north, southwest, and east of the deposit. The company noted that unique mineral assemblages, recognized in drill core (specifically elevated Cr [chrome]), occurring in close association with mineralized, variable textured gabbro, have been detected in surface outcrops in proximity to the Gochager Lake deposit and further along strike. According to the announcement, assay results for soils and rock samples are in early August. "The recently completed and very productive field program at the Gochager Lake property has provided new, high-quality data to continue to demonstrate the presence of a significant magmatic Ni-Cu-Co deposit at Gochager. We are very excited to confirm that the same unique geochemical signals recognized in drill core is occurring in outcrop, 200-400 meters along strike. This is confirmation of a very open magmatic system. It is also very encouraging to now recognize the ultramafic rocks we encountered in drilling to depths in excess of 400 meters sub-surface are also occurring on surface and with significant Ni-tenor values. This suggests that the ultramafic rocks occurring within and proximal to the Gochager Lake deposit, if sufficiently saturated with sulphide, have the potential to host separate Ni-Cu-Co deposits," said Ian Fraser, CEO and VP Exploration, in the press release.

To view the full press release, visit https://ibn.fm/08HLq

Fathom Nickel Inc. (CSE: FNI) (FSE: 6Q5) (OTCQB: FNICF) is a Canadian natural resource development and exploration company that targets high-grade nickel sulfide discoveries for use in the rapidly growing global electric vehicle (EV) market. The company has a portfolio of two high-quality exploration projects located in the prolific Trans Hudson Corridor in Saskatchewan.

Led by a management team with more than 100 years of combined mining and exploration experience, Fathom believes in a continuing bright outlook for nickel and its increasing use in the manufacturing of batteries needed for energy storage in the high-growth renewable energy and EV industries. The company’s modern approach to exploration has yielded significant new nickel discoveries.

Fathom is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta.

Projects

The Albert Lake Project

The Albert Lake Project comprises 90,460 hectares of lands located in north-central Saskatchewan, with over 80,000 hectares currently unexplored. The project is host to the historic Rottenstone Mine, a high-grade, open pit nickel sulfide past producer that was active from 1965 to 1969 and yielded ~26,000 tonnes of 3.3% Ni, 1.8% Cu, and >9 g/t Pd-Pt+Au.

The geological setting of the Albert Lake Project is within the Trans Hudson Orogeny (Corridor), which is host to numerous world-class nickel mining camps including the Thompson Nickel Belt (currently operating with more than 5 billion pounds of nickel produced since 1959), Lynn Lake (past producer) and Raglan Nickel Belt (currently operating with more than 39,000 tons of nickel produced in 2020).

The project is fully permitted. Exploration plans for 2024 include drilling a high-priority target located approximately 2km south of the historic Rottenstone Mine along with drilling other high-priority targets. Additional soil geochemistry, surface geophysical programs and geological mapping and prospecting will be performed during the summer field season.

The Gochager Lake Project

The Gochager Lake Project in northern Saskatchewan, also in the prolific Trans Hudson Corridor, was recently expanded through the addition of the contiguous Watt’s Lake property and direct staking, bringing its total land area to 22,620 hectares.

The Gochager Lake property is host to a historic resource defined by drilling in 1966-1967 consisting of 4.2 M tons grading 0.29% Ni and 0.08% Cu. Recent drilling by Fathom has defined multiple very robust off-hole borehole electromagnetic (BHEM) responses in eight of nine holes drilled in 2023 and three historic drill holes probed. There is very strong evidence of multiple, high-grade nickel-copper-cobalt steeply oriented chutes within the historic Gochager Lake Deposit.

Prior to Fathom exploration in 2023 and since 1970, exploration at the property has been limited to small drill programs in 1989-1990 and 2018. Exploration plans for 2024 include expanded surface geophysical programs, drilling and continued BHEM surveys to expand tons and increase the grade of the historic Gochager Lake deposit. Summer exploration will consist of soil geochemistry, mapping, prospecting and additional surface geophysical programs focused on identifying other Gochager-like deposits within the current land package.

Market Opportunity

Nickel plays a crucial role in clean energy technologies, and that is expected to cause demand to well outstrip supply for the foreseeable future.

With an annual market value of around $35 billion, nickel demand is projected to rise due to its intensive use in lithium-ion batteries used to power EVs. However, new discoveries of nickel sulfide deposits (currently the most reliable source for battery-grade class 1 nickel) have been rare, which could constrain class 1 nickel supply in the coming years.

According to Deloitte’s global EV forecast, total EV sales will grow from 2.5 million in 2020 to 11.2 million in 2025, reaching 31.1 million by 2030 and representing approximately 32% of the total market share for new car sales. Over the next 10 years, the EV market is projected to see a CAGR of 29%, with increased demand for nickel expected to be comparable.

Management Team

Fathom Nickel has assembled a best-in-class leadership team consisting of highly qualified industry professionals with deep knowledge and understanding of the mineral exploration industry and capital markets.

Ian Fraser, P.Geo., is CEO, VP Exploration and Co-Founder of Fathom Nickel. He has more than 35 years of experience in mineral exploration, as well as managing and implementing exploration projects in Canada and internationally. His experience includes resource interpretation and development of the Casa Berardi Gold Mine and Komis Gold Mine, as well as the Cisneros Gold Mine in Colombia.

Doug Porter, CPA, CA, CBV, is President, CFO and Director of Fathom Nickel. He is a senior financial and accounting executive with specific emphasis in resource company management. His career includes positions with Elan Coal Ltd., Altitude Resources Ltd. and StimWrx Oilfield Services Ltd.

Fathom Nickel Inc. (OTCQB: FNICF), closed Thursday's trading session at $0.037, off by 3.5202%, on 55,600 volume. The average volume for the last 3 months is and the stock's 52-week low/high is $0.0222/$0.2588.

Recent News

• Fathom Nickel Inc. (CSE: FNI) (FSE: 6Q5) (OTCQB: FNICF) - InvestorNewsBreaks - Fathom Nickel Inc.'s (CSE: FNI) (FSE: 6Q5) (OTCQB: FNICF) New, High-Quality Data Continues to Demonstrate Presence of Significant Magmatic Ni-Cu-Co Deposit at Gochager
• Nickel Rush Heats Up in Canada: Opening Doors for Companies Like Fathom Nickel Inc. (CSE: FNI) (FSE: 6Q5) (OTCQB: FNICF) as Canada Eyes a Top Spot Among Global Producers
• InvestorNewsBreaks - Fathom Nickel Inc. (CSE: FNI) (FSE: 6Q5) (OTCQB: FNICF) Releases Core Review Report on 'Blue Sky' Potential at Mal Lake

GEMXX Corp. (OTC: GEMZ)

The QualityStocks Daily Newsletter would like to spotlight GEMXX Corp. (OTC: GEMZ) .

GEMXX (OTC: GEMZ), a publicly traded exploration company engaged in gold, gemstones, oil and gas, recently signed a definitive agreement with Latin Energy Partners ("LEP") to drill four test wells in a promising geological formation in Latin America. "This strategic venture represents a significant milestone in GEMXX's expansion into the energy sector, highlighting the company's dedication to diversification, growth and enhancing shareholder value. Latin Energy Partners is a rising independent exploration and production company focused on discovering substantial hydrocarbon reserves in Latin America, an area with significant untapped potential… The drilling of the four test wells is set to begin in the coming months, with expected results providing valuable data on the region's oil potential," a recent article reads. "This partnership aligns with our strategic goals of resource diversification and capitalizing on high-potential opportunities in the energy sector," said Richard Clowater, CEO of GEMXX. "The drilling of these test wells is a crucial step towards unlocking significant value for our shareholders."

To view the full article, visit https://ibn.fm/lI97r

GEMXX Corp. (OTC: GEMZ) is a mine-to-market enterprise specializing in gold, gemstone, and jewelry production. With ownership of mining resources, production facilities, and operational assets, the company maintains control over every aspect of its production process, from gold mining and gemstone extraction to jewelry manufacturing and global distribution.

As a prominent player in the industry, GEMXX stands out as a leading producer of high-quality finished Ammolite jewelry. Notably, it holds the distinction of being the sole public company engaged in Ammolite mining worldwide. In addition to its Ammolite operations, the company is actively involved in gold mining and prides itself on its ability to design and manufacture exquisite jewelry pieces and exceptionally rare, natural fossil decor items for clientele around the globe.

One of GEMXX’s key advantages lies in mining its own gold reserves to be utilized in its jewelry production. This strategic approach provides the company with a cost-saving edge over other producers in the market.

Ammolite is similar to black opal and is a biogenic gem like amber and pearl. It is derived from the fossilized shells of ammonites, a group of extinct marine nautiluses.

GEMXX’s world class gemstone cutters and jewelry designers are continuously leading the Ammolite industry. Its team believes in the company’s philosophy, vision and goals, and works every day to continue to drive the Ammolite industry to the forefront of the gem world.

The company has offices in Las Vegas and Hong Kong.

Projects and Operations

GEMXX has formulated an ambitious growth plan that, while challenging, is deemed attainable. The company’s strategy revolves around bolstering its market share through several key initiatives. Firstly, GEMXX aims to strengthen its position in current markets by nurturing and expanding existing relationships with customers and partners.

Secondly, the company plans to venture into untapped markets strategically. By identifying and targeting new areas, GEMXX seeks to establish a presence in regions that present promising opportunities for growth.

Additionally, GEMXX envisions growth through acquisitions. By considering and integrating key services, distribution networks and retail outlets into its fold, the company aims to consolidate its market position and capitalize on synergies for enhanced success.

To cater to the rising demand for its products, GEMXX has placed a primary focus on increasing gemstone production. The company’s southern properties, situated in Alberta, Canada, hold valuable deposits of rough Ammolite gemstone. By tapping into these resources, GEMXX is poised to meet the demand for its exquisite gemstone products and further fuel its expansion plans.

 

GEMXX possesses significant mineral assets in the form of a Mineral Work Permit covering an 800-acre area and two Ammonite Shell Mineral agreements encompassing 217 acres within the same region. The company’s management effectively operated mines in close proximity to these properties. Moreover, core sampling, along with fossil outcroppings on the riverbanks, confirms a substantial Ammolite resource present in these designated areas.

Both the Mineral Work Permit and the Ammonite Shell Mineral agreements grant GEMXX unrestricted access to all Ammolite resources within their respective demarcations. Notably, the company is not obligated to pay any royalties to third parties, thereby enabling GEMXX to fully capitalize on the potential of these valuable resources.

Furthermore, there are no stringent regulatory conditions that GEMXX must fulfill to gain or retain access to the Ammolite deposits. This freedom of access allows the company to proceed with its mining and production operations unimpeded, providing an advantageous position for future growth and success.

In March 2023, GEMXX made a significant announcement, revealing its acquisition of a 50% ownership stake in Crazy Horse Mining Inc., a Canadian gold mining company with assets situated in the province of British Columbia. As part of this deal, Crazy Horse’s assets, which encompass a 100% interest in two gold projects, called Snow Creek and Rosella Creek, spread across a substantial area exceeding 700 acres, now become part of GEMXX’s portfolio.

Under the terms of this strategic partnership, GEMXX and Crazy Horse will jointly share the expenses related to mining operations on these projects. Additionally, the two companies will share the gold produced from these ventures, leading to a collaborative and mutually beneficial arrangement.

Initial tests conducted on the property, combined with gold already recovered this season, confirm all expectations for the claims and substantiate the company’s estimated extraction target of over 100,000 ounces of easily recoverable gold. To validate and provide a more comprehensive assessment of this estimate, an S-K 1300-compliant Resource Report is scheduled to be conducted during the summer of 2023.

By acquiring this stake in Crazy Horse Mining Inc., GEMXX has positioned itself for further growth in the gold mining sector and is poised to capitalize on cost of goods savings in its jewelry business.

Market Opportunity

Leading independent market research companies such as Data Monitor and GIA estimate the worldwide market for luxury or premium lifestyle products, which include gems and jewelry, at over $90 billion annually and growing. Ammolite sales around the world have seen unprecedented growth over the past 20 years. Worldwide retail sales are now estimated to be over $100 million.

Ammolite jewelry and fossils are featured aboard cruise ships and can be found in specialty shops in almost every cruise port in North America. Asian markets have grown since feng shui master Edward Li called Ammolite the most influential stone of the new millennium, referring to it as the “Seven Color Prosperity Stone.” Home shopping channels in Japan, Australia, France, Germany, the UK, Canada and the U.S. have all featured Ammolite jewelry.

Ammolite and ammonites can also be found on many ecommerce sales platforms, including Amazon, eBay and Etsy. Ammolite is sold around the world in tourist and traditional jewelry markets. The company has established customers in home shopping channels, cruise tourism, jewelry retailers, Asian feng shui markets, Asian retail markets and ecommerce platforms.

Management Team

With over 160 years in Ammolite management, operations, and sales, GEMXX possesses an unparalleled wealth of knowledge and expertise. Its team members have extensive backgrounds in every facet of the Ammolite business, allowing the company to excel in product development, maintain rigorous quality control measures, and maximize profitability. The breadth and depth of the GEMXX team’s experience enable the company to navigate the industry with precision, ensuring that GEMXX remains at the forefront of the Ammolite market. GEMXX leverages its collective wisdom to drive innovation, deliver exceptional products, and optimize business strategies to achieve long-term success.

Jay Maull is Founder, CEO and Chairman of GEMXX. With a career spanning more than three decades, he has been deeply involved in the Ammolite industry, from mining and production to marketing. He has owned and operated the world’s largest Ammolite mine and has delivered exceptional Ammolite products to customers across all continents. He has also established the world’s largest Ammolite ecommerce platform.

Richard Clowater is President of GEMXX. He is a skilled sales and marketing professional with a focus on research, data analysis and strategic planning. He has successfully implemented initiatives to expand markets, boost profits and foster customer loyalty. He has an impressive track record of negotiating sales and contracts worth over $250 million with influential stakeholders, including key purchasing personnel, C-suite executives and government entities at all levels.

Tom Dryden is a Vice President of GEMXX and brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the production and marketing of Ammolite, spanning over 30 years. His extensive involvement in the industry has granted him unparalleled knowledge of the Bearpaw Ammonite bearing formations. As a recognized authority in the field, Mr. Dryden’s research and papers on Canadian Ammonites have garnered global recognition, being published worldwide. In his role at GEMXX, Mr. Dryden assumes the responsibility of overseeing the company’s Canadian-based production facilities. 

P. K. Chung is Business Manager Asia at GEMXX. With a track record of over 25 years in Ammolite business management, production and marketing in Asia, she is a recognized authority in the industry. Based in the Hong Kong gem district, she possesses an intricate understanding of the Asian gem and jewelry markets, including market dynamics, consumer preferences and industry trends specific to the region. Her strategic insights and deep connections enable GEMXX to thrive in this influential market.

GEMXX Corp. (OTC: GEMZ), closed Thursday's trading session at $0.02875, off by 4.1667%, on 600 volume. The average volume for the last 3 months is and the stock's 52-week low/high is $0.0172/$0.19.

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Reflex Advanced Materials Corp. (CSE: RFLX) (OTCQB: RFLXF)

The QualityStocks Daily Newsletter would like to spotlight Reflex Advanced Materials Corp. (CSE: RFLX) (OTCQB: RFLXF).

Reflex Advanced Materials Corp. (CSE: RFLX) (OTCQB: RFLXF) is a strategic minerals company focused on locating and developing economic properties in the strategic metals and advanced materials space. The company aims to improve domestic specialty mineral infrastructure efficiencies to meet surging national demand from North American manufacturers, effectively positioning itself as one of the only North American suppliers of high purity natural graphite for hi-tech applications.

Reflex Advanced Materials is based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Its project portfolio includes the Ruby Graphite Deposit in Montana and the ZigZag Lithium Property in Ontario.

Projects

Ruby Graphite Project

Located in a mining-friendly jurisdiction in southwest Montana, the Ruby Graphite Deposit is a low cost, rapid re-entry opportunity that produced roughly 2,400 tons of graphite from 1902 to 1948. Reflex Advanced Materials holds mining rights for 755 hectares at the Ruby Graphite Project, with 96 federal lode mining claims. Recent samples assay at 95.8% to 98.4% total carbon.

The site is notable as the only combined U.S. graphite flake and vein graphite source. Vein graphite is ideal for energy storage applications, because it requires fewer steps to achieve purity than synthetic alternatives and is therefore far less environmentally damaging. This is expected to play a key role in the project’s development as demand for electric vehicles continues to surge.

In March 2023, the company announced its submittal of permit applications to the Bureau of Land Management in respect of its exploration of the Ruby Graphite Project. Its initial drill program, expected to take place in the summer of 2023, includes plans for 3,500 total meters of drilling, cored to an average depth of 130 meters. The targets for this drill program have been identified using historical data from original mine operations and data gathered for the initial 43-101 technical report on the project, dated January 31, 2023.

ZigZag Lithium Property

Located in the Thunder Bay Mining Division of Ontario, the ZigZag Lithium Property consists of eight mining claims spanning roughly 2,710 hectares. Mineralization at the property, most notably lithium, is based in pegmatite dikes and concentrated in spodumene crystals, which are consistent throughout the entire unit.

Spodumene is readily observable in outcrops and in drill cores, with crystal sizes ranging from 3-15cm, on average.

Reflex Advanced Materials and American Energy Technologies Company Metallurgical Partnership

Reflex Advanced Materials has entered into a material processing agreement with American Energy Technologies Co., which is based in Arlington Heights, Illinois, to conduct metallurgical testwork with the goal of creating a technical support data package for Reflex’s target customer base, U.S. Federal agencies and qualification programs with hi-tech customers in the battery and battery storage business.

The resulting coated, spherionized, purified graphite (CSPG) material that is expected to be created from the aforementioned tests will be used to provide potential customers of CSPG with samples so that they can begin the material qualification process.

Market Opportunity

Graphite is an ideal battery anode and has dominated the market since the proliferation of lithium-ion batteries. Despite this demand, there is currently no significant production of lithium-ion battery anode material in North America.

Instead, most graphite sold in North America today is sourced from Chinese producers. U.S. President Joe Biden highlighted this sourcing disparity in a 2022 address:

“The United Stated depends on unreliable foreign sources for many of the strategic and critical materials necessary for the clean energy transition – such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite and manganese for large-capacity batteries,” he said. “Demand for such materials is projected to increase exponentially as the world transitions to a clean energy economy.”

The U.S. Department of Energy is in the process of awarding $2.8 billion to expand domestic manufacturing of batteries for electric vehicles and combat this foreign dependency. Reflex Advanced Materials has identified its Ruby Graphite Project as a prime candidate for U.S.-sponsored initiatives due to the rarity and scarcity of natural graphite deposits in the country.

Processing graphite domestically in the U.S. is expected to provide Reflex Advanced Materials a competitive advantage as manufacturers begin to seek out American supply in the face of increased diplomatic tension. This is critical, as a rise in anode demand is expected to fuel a shortage of 8 million tonnes of graphite by 2040. World Bank Group projects 494% growth in total graphite demand by 2050.

Leadership Team

Paul Gorman is the CEO and a Director of Reflex Advanced Materials. He brings to the company over 25 years of experience in junior mining finance, public listings, viability assessment and operational rationalization. For 18 years, Mr. Gorman served as president and managing partner of Riverbank Capital, where he played an instrumental role in raising more than $85 million for small-cap companies. In 2008, he funded Industrial Minerals Inc. (later Northern Graphite) and served in an advisory role for four other graphite companies, contributing significantly to the revitalization of the junior graphite space in North America. Mr. Gorman founded Mega Graphite Inc. in 2009 and has served as chief executive for three other companies.

Tasheel Jeerh, CPA, is the company’s CFO. He is a finance and accounting professional with over a decade of experience spanning both public and private sectors. Prior to joining Reflex Advanced Materials, Mr. Jeerh played a pivotal role in the growth of a private upstream oil and gas firm, dealing with over $2 billion in M&A activity and $1 billion in financing activities. He gained his designation at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he worked as a manager in the assurance practice.

Greg Bell is Project Manager for Reflex Advanced Materials. He is a multi-disciplined engineering management professional with more than 40 years of experience in the natural resources sector. Mr. Bell has successfully built and managed several start-up operations in various capacities. He has been active in graphite and lithium exploration for the past seven years.

Christopher W. Hill leads the company’s Corporate Development initiatives. He is an investor and entrepreneur with over a decade of experience in the capital markets. Mr. Hill began his career as an investment advisor and then began to consult and advise private companies on their paths to becoming publicly traded. He specializes in corporate development and strategic financing utilizing his large network in the capital markets.

Reflex Advanced Materials Corp. (RFLXF), closed Thursday's trading session at $0.053, up 65.625%, on 17,008 volume. The average volume for the last 3 months is and the stock's 52-week low/high is $0.0306/$0.35.

Recent News

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Correlate Energy Corp. (OTCQB: CIPI)

The QualityStocks Daily Newsletter would like to spotlight Correlate Energy Corp. (OTCQB: CIPI).

Correlate Energy Corp. (OTCQB: CIPI) is a publicly-traded company strategically positioned to capitalize on America’s unstoppable trend toward decentralized energy generation.

The energy grid in the U.S. is insufficient for the booming clean energy trend, and current infrastructure is limiting green energy distribution. Constructing the needed infrastructure to address this demand imbalance will cost billions and be far too slow, positioning decentralized systems, like those on offer from Correlate, in a key position for heightened demand.

Correlate has identified several key economic drivers powering the decentralized energy trend, including:

1. Real Cost Savings – Customer pays zero money down and gets an instant electrical price discount to current rates.
2. Massive Project Investment Funding – The International Energy Agency estimates that over one billion dollars per day will be invested in solar energy in 2023.
3. Consistent Long-Term Incentives – The Inflation Reduction Act is a game-changer, supercharging renewables with $1.2 trillion in tax credits for 10 years of market support.
4. Robust Customer Demand – Wood Mackenzie expects the U.S. solar industry to nearly triple in size over the next five years.

Correlate’s team of multi-decade experts who have worked with renowned global brands are positioning the company to make the most of this opportunity while consolidating a fragmented industry. Collectively, the team has developed, financed and deployed over $2 billion in clean energy projects to date.

Three-Pronged Strategy

Correlate is leveraging a three-pronged strategy aimed at driving shareholder value:

1. Sell – Correlate seeks to finance, develop and profitably sell localized clean energy solutions and microgrids to industrial, commercial and residential customers.
2. Retain – Correlate plans to retain ownership of some of these energy systems and thereby realize ongoing, reliable cash flow.
3. Acquire – Correlate seeks to acquire proven renewable energy companies in order to exponentially grow earnings per share for investors.

This strategy is enhanced by current investment trends. Clean energy earnings are being sought after by investors. In Q4 2022, the median EBITDA multiple for green energy companies was 12.3x, according to Finerva.

Market Outlook

Over the next decade and beyond, renewable energy growth is expected to come primarily via decentralized systems like those offered by Correlate.
The Inflation Reduction Act enacted in late August 2022 is likewise expected to drive growth for the company by providing new tax incentives that reduce costs for clients and/or elevate returns to investors.

Commercial buildings consume more than 35% of the generated electricity in the U.S. and are underperforming in energy efficiency at every level. These buildings waste energy, emit too much carbon and are too costly for owners and occupants, but retrofits are not happening at the rate or scale needed.

In today’s real estate market, portfolio property owners own most commercial buildings, yet most building efficiency work is focused on single buildings, thereby missing the distinct needs of this owner class which are very different from traditional owner-occupiers. The diverse nature of commercial buildings, combined with technology and performance uncertainty, make simple energy optimization initiatives – which could greatly reduce energy use and improve building value – financially unattractive, resulting in slow adoption rates. CIPI’s financial instruments and software breakdown this issue, known as the ‘split incentive’, unlocking the majority of the addressable market.

A key portion of Correlate’s strategy relates to consolidation of what has been a fragmented industry. By uncovering opportunities to improve efficiencies through strategic M&A activities, the company intends to enhance profitability throughout its operations.

Management Team

Todd Michaels is President and CEO of CIPI and founder of Correlate. He formerly served as Vice President for Innovation at SunEdison and Senior Director Distributed Solar at NRG Energy. He founded Correlate in 2015 and has 16 years of experience in the energy industry. He graduated from Indiana University with a B.S. in Computer Information Systems.

Channing Chen is CFO at CIPI and Correlate Inc. and brings over 16 years of experience in the solar industry as a developer, financier, and business unit leader. He has held executive management roles at Solar Power Partners (acquired by NRG Energy), where he was a founding employee, SunEdison, and NRG Energy (NYSE: NRG). Most recently, Mr. Chen was founder and Managing Partner at Breakaway Energy Partners LLC – a distributed energy financing and market-making platform. To date, Mr. Chen and his teams have raised over $1.5 billion in financing across residential, commercial, and utility scale solar and energy storage projects representing over 400 MWs. He holds a B.A. in Environmental Chemistry from the University of California at San Diego and an MBA from the University of Southern California. He is also an advisor and early-stage investor to several startup companies in the renewable energy space.

Dave Bailey is Chief Revenue Officer of Correlate Inc. With over 15 years of executive sales, supply chain management, and energy efficiency experience, he is responsible for ensuring the success of the National Commercial Sales Unit across multiple regional project teams. Mr. Bailey created and launched the Transformation Services team while at Wesco for its multibillion-dollar Distributed Energy Resource division, formerly Westinghouse. His focus was on IoT-enabled efficiency and plant floor automation-based services. Before that, he spent several years in Global Account Sales Management, with GE Supply as a Program Manager, and is a Commercial Leadership Program graduate. Mr. Bailey received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Kentucky.

Jed Freedlander is the company’s Chief Development Officer. He has a background in infrastructure development and investment and a strong legal, commercial and finance acumen. Mr. Freedlander has a proven track record in leading complex public-private partnership (P3) and energy transactions and is instrumental in driving Correlate’s strategic development initiatives.

Roger Baum is Executive VP Operations at Correlate. With over 20 years of experience at Core Construction, he brings to the company a wealth of knowledge and a strong track record in delivering successful commercial construction projects.

Jason Loyet is Director of Solar Energy for Correlate Inc. He is a cleantech executive with over 20 years of experience leading high growth solar energy and software start-ups. Mr. Loyet is a U.S. Department of Energy SunShot Catalyst award winner for his work building the Solar Site Design technology platform. Before joining the solar energy industry in 2005, he founded and sold two software companies in the streaming media (GlobalStreams) and newspaper publishing (MyCapture) industries. Mr. Loyet currently serves as a Member of the Board of Directors for the Tennessee Solar Energy Industry Association (TenneSEIA).

Correlate Energy Corp. (OTCQB: CIPI), closed Thursday's trading session at $0.265, off by 39.7727%, on 2,400 volume. The average volume for the last 3 months is and the stock's 52-week low/high is $0.05/$2.35.

Recent News

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First Tellurium Corp. (CSE: FTEL) (OTCQB: FSTTF)

The QualityStocks Daily Newsletter would like to spotlight First Tellurium Corp. (CSE: FTEL) (OTCQB: FSTTF) .

First Tellurium Corp. (CSE: FTEL) (OTCQB: FSTTF) is committed to exploring for and providing essential and critical metals, including tellurium, gold, silver, copper and tungsten, for North American markets. This objective is anchored by the company’s Deer Horn tellurium-gold-silver-copper project in British Columbia, Canada, and further enhanced by its property option on the Klondike tellurium-gold prospect located in Colorado, USA.

First Tellurium’s unique business model is to generate revenue and value through mineral discovery, project development, project generation and cooperative access to untapped mineral regions in indigenous territory with sustainable exploration potential.

The company is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Tellurium and the Green Energy Revolution

Tellurium has a key role to play in the ongoing green energy revolution. It is widely used in the manufacturing of photovoltaic cells for solar panels.

Despite this utility, ongoing trade tensions between China and the U.S. create implications for both tellurium and the production of cadmium-tellurium solar cells. Earlier this year, China announced plans to restrict exports of critical metals gallium and germanium, both essential for the production of semiconductors. For reference, China produces around 80% of the world’s gallium and approximately 60% of the world’s germanium.

China’s recent trade restrictions amplify the fragility of the North American tellurium supply, as the Asian nation currently produces about 60% of the world’s tellurium. This sustained supply vulnerability is why First Solar, the United States’ largest solar panel producer, set up a worldwide search for tellurium deposits in the mid-2000s.

“In North America alone, our understanding is that First Solar looked at over a hundred tellurium properties,” First Tellurium CEO Tyrone Docherty stated in a news release. “Their number one property by far, which they acquired, was the Colorado Klondike which we now control.”

The U.S. is now looking to secure safe, domestic sources of tellurium and many other critical metals to pre-empt potential shortages. The Biden administration has instituted a stream of policies, particularly the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, to source solar components from North America and other “friendly” jurisdictions.

As the only junior mining company in the world focused on tellurium exploration, First Tellurium is ahead of the curve in capitalizing on these initiatives to establish strategic, domestic supplies of key resources for solar panel manufacturers.

First Tellurium’s ESG Initiatives

Through its exploration and partnerships with Fenix Advanced Materials, Cheona Metals and IRMA, First Tellurium strives to generate a measurable, beneficial social or environmental impact alongside a financial return. The company conducts a diversified search for metals, working in alliance with indigenous peoples, NGOs, governments and leading metals buyers. First Tellurium believes this is the future of mineral exploration — generating revenue by exploring responsibly and leveraging diverse partnerships.

First Tellurium proudly adheres to, and supports, the principles and rights set out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and, in particular, the fundamental proposition of free, prior and informed consent.

 

Projects

Deer Horn Tellurium-Gold-Silver-Copper Project

Deer Horn is located on 51.33 square kilometers (km) in west-central British Columbia, 36 km south of the prolific Huckleberry copper-molybdenum mine and 135 km southwest of the community of Burns Lake. It is one of few significant tellurium discoveries outside Asia and includes a 2.4 km-long vein system of high-grade gold, silver and tellurium, as well as broader zones of bulk-tonnage gold, silver and tellurium mineralization. The company completed a positive Preliminary Economic Estimate and has begun permitting for a 10,000-tonne bulk sample program to advance the project toward mine feasibility. It is North America’s only silver-gold-tellurium property with an NI 43-101 compliant tellurium resource, and it hosts a number of other mineralized targets and zone containing critical metals such as copper, tungsten and zinc.

First Tellurium owns 50% of the property, with an option to acquire up to a 75% interest. The company has engaged Dias Geophysical of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, to conduct induced polarization (IP) geophysics on the Deer Horn Project in summer 2023. The program is designed to help develop drill targets for a subsequent drilling program.

Klondike Gold-Tellurium Project

The Klondike property is located in Saguache County, Colorado, southwest of Buena Vista in the state’s historical mining district. The company reports it has engaged Burgex Mining Consultants of Sandy, Utah, to stake additional claims around the Klondike property. The claims have been filed with the Bureau of Land Management.

Klondike demonstrates exceptional tellurium grades. Tellurium, used in high-efficiency cadmium telluride (Cd-Te) solar panels, next-generation lithium-ion batteries and thermoelectric devices to change heat into energy, is an essential element for the world’s transition to green energy.

The Klondike property was a top tellurium prospect owned previously by First Solar Inc., one of the world’s largest solar panel producers. First Solar terminated its worldwide raw materials exploration program in 2012 and sold the property to Colorado Klondike LLC, which optioned the project to First Tellurium. Colorado Klondike, led by First Solar’s former Exploration Manager in North America, is managing the upcoming exploration program.

The Colorado Geological Survey (CGS), in partnership with the Colorado School of Mines, reported on First Solar’s exploration at Klondike in 2015, noting: “Surface sampling by First Solar, Inc. in 2006 found very high tellurium grades of up to 3.3% (33,000 ppm), along with locally high gold grades. Tellurium grades at Klondike were the highest encountered in the company’s nationwide exploration program.”

Market Outlook

First Tellurium in spring 2023 referenced recent forecasts by the International Energy Agency (IEA) pointing to rapid growth in solar photovoltaic (solar PV) deployment worldwide. According to the agency, solar PV installations will generate more power by 2027 than any other energy source, including coal, natural gas and hydro. To meet this demand, consumption of both silver and tellurium, key components of solar panels, is expected to surge in coming years.

Chen Lin, founder of Lin Asset Management, has written in his investment newsletter for clients that solar PV is now the largest industrial usage of silver. He said that in 2022 solar PV production used about 12% of total silver demand, or about 120 million ounces of silver. Lin expects this number to rise dramatically in the coming years, and that is likely to lead to silver supply deficits for decades to come.

Lin points out that solar power is now the cheapest source of energy in many parts of the world and that all forecasts point to dramatic expansion of solar PV in the coming two decades. Conservative estimates forecast 300 gigawatts of solar PV production by 2027, up from the current level of about 200 gigawatts.

Management Team

Tyrone Docherty is President, Director and CEO of First Tellurium Corp. He previously served as President and CEO of Quinto Mining Inc., taking over when it had a market cap of $4 million. With limited resources in a difficult market environment, he raised more than $30 million and advanced Quinto’s Quebec iron ore property to a viable project. Quinto later sold for $175 million, with Quinto management taking shares of the purchaser, Consolidated Thompson Iron Mines, amounting to approximately 20-21% of that company. Consolidated Thompson Iron Mines sold two years later for $4.9 billion, giving the former Quinto team an enterprise value of approximately $1 billion. From 2012 to 2018, Mr. Docherty was Director and Chairman of Mason Graphite Inc. He has worked in the financial and minerals markets for more than 30 years.

Tony Fogarassy, M.Sc. LL.M., is Chairman of First Tellurium Corp. He is a lawyer and a geologist. His extensive legal and technical expertise includes minerals, oil and gas, coal and renewable energy projects and environmental and aboriginal/indigenous law in North America, Africa and Asia. He graduated as gold medalist in geological sciences from the University of British Columbia and in law from the London School of Economics.

First Tellurium Corp. (OTCQB: FSTTF), closed Thursday's trading session at $0.095, up 5.5556%, on 86,559 volume. The average volume for the last 3 months is and the stock's 52-week low/high is $0.047785/$0.1075.

Recent News

• First Tellurium Corp. (CSE: FTEL) (OTCQB: FSTTF) - KPMG Opens Reporting Hub to Clarify ESG Financial Reporting
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Starco Brands Inc. (OTCQB: STCB)

The QualityStocks Daily Newsletter would like to spotlight Starco Brands Inc. (OTCQB: STCB).

Starco Brands Inc. (OTCQB: STCB) is a modern-day invention factory. The company’s unwavering mission is to invent and acquire consumer products and brands with behavior-changing technologies that spark excitement in the everyday.

This consumer product company has grown from a few million dollars in revenue to a current run rate of approximately $67 million in annual revenue in one year.

The company has succeeded by identifying whitespaces in eight core consumer categories and then either: 1) leveraging its internal R&D capabilities and dedicated manufacturing network to invent new technologies and brands or 2) utilizing the management team’s extensive M&A experience to acquire brands that fill the industry void, delighting consumers and retailers alike.

Whether the brand is developed internally or acquired, the company employs a modern marketing playbook to ensure its brands are at the forefront of culture; garnering unprecedented media attention and engagement that supports a robust sales network.

Starco Brands’ core competencies are inventing technologies, acquiring companies, marketing, building trends, pushing awareness, penetrating media (social and otherwise) and executing cutting edge pull-through strategies with a roster of globally recognized celebrities, influencers and media and distribution partners.

A commitment to changing the way people approach everyday activities is innate in the company’s corporate DNA.

The company is based in Santa Monica, California.

Brands

Whereas other consumer products companies are content with evolution, Starco Brands has its mind set on creating a revolution across the industry. From disrupting the spirits industry with Whipshots, the world’s only vodka-infused whipped cream, to Soylent, the original food tech company, Starco Brands is putting the CPG world on notice. Its portfolio of brands includes:

• Whipshots is a first-of-its-kind alcoholic whipped cream launched in 2021 with celebrity partner Cardi B. Consumers have embraced this boozy concoction, putting it on top of cocktails, coffees and desserts, or enjoying it straight from the can. In just over a year, the brand has sold over 2 MILLION cans, making it one of the fastest growing spirits in history.
• Winona Pure gives consumers movie theatre popcorn in the comfort of their own homes. All the flavor and none of the additives is the story behind these all-natural, non-GMO popcorn seasoning sprays. A simple spray is all it takes to add the perfect pop of flavor to the classic theatre treat.
• Art of Sport, co-founded by the great Kobe Bryant, is the number one body care brand for athletes. With a growing line of personal care products tested by the world’s greatest athletes, these daily skin essentials give consumers everything they need to feel fresh, stay protected and confident and perform at their peak every day.
• Skylar is the first and only line of perfumes on the market that are hypoallergenic and safe for sensitive skin. With the strong support of industry titan Sephora, the brand has quickly attracted a loyal following.
• Soylent is a technological feat. Originally funded by Google Ventures and Andreessen Horwitz, Soylent is dubbed as the world’s most perfect food. Made from sustainably grown plant-based ingredients, Soylent’s line of products is scientifically developed to provide all the functional ingredients, vitamins, minerals, fats, carbohydrates and protein that the body needs – all in convenient, delicious and affordable packages. Soylent’s innovative product line-up includes complete nutrition powders, ready-to-drink shakes, 100-calorie snack bars, high protein nutrition shakes and energy boosting nutrition shakes. Soylent was also the recipient of the 2023 Product of the Year Award by Kantar, a global leader in consumer research.

With award-winning marketing talent, Starco Brands develops robust, integrated marketing plans for every brand in its portfolio, ensuring an impactful presence across all verticals.

Market Outlook

Starco Brands’ varied brand portfolio gives it access to the growth of numerous product categories that are ripe for innovation.

Through its February 2023 acquisition of complete nutrition pioneer Soylent, Starco Brands is positioned to capitalize on the projected growth of the plant-based nutrition space. Research firm Statista valued the plant-based nutrition market at $29.4 billion in 2020 and forecasts its value at nearly $162 billion by 2030, representing a CAGR of 18.7% for the period.

Likewise, Starco Brands gained improved access to the global fragrance market through its December 2022 acquisition of Skylar. According to a report by Grand View Research, the global perfume market was valued at $50.85 billion in 2022 and is expected to grow to a value of nearly $80 billion by 2030, achieving a CAGR of 5.9% over the forecast period.

The company is primed to expand its access to other growth verticals as it advances on its path to invent and acquire behavior-changing technologies and brands.

Management Team

Ross Sklar is the CEO of Starco Brands. A chemical formulator by trade, he started his first company while still in college. Since 2004, he has made over a dozen acquisitions with multiple exits and controls an eclectic collection of industrial, household, personal care and food and beverage manufacturers covering many consumer-packaged goods categories.

Darin Brown is the Chief Operating Officer of Starco Brands. With over 20 years of experience in chemical manufacturing, business development, finance and mergers and acquisitions, he has scaled the company from the ground up. He oversees all internal operations for Starco Brands and is an integral liaison between the company and Mr. Sklar’s manufacturing facilities.

David Dreyer is Chief Marketing Officer of Starco Brands. With over 25 years of experience working with blue chip and startup brands, he oversees all marketing initiatives for the company. Mr. Dreyer comes to Starco having worked with such standout brands as Apple, Pepsi, Pizza Hut, Dr Pepper, Snapple, Infiniti, The GRAMMY’s, Honda and Stamps.com. He is also a Professor of Advertising at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication.

Starco Brands Inc. (STCB), closed Thursday's trading session at $0.0995, up 4.4071%, on 10,000 volume. The average volume for the last 3 months is 31,140 and the stock's 52-week low/high is $0.0611/$0.20.

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Scinai Immunotherapeutics Ltd. (NASDAQ: SCNI)

The QualityStocks Daily Newsletter would like to spotlight Scinai Immunotherapeutics Ltd. (NASDAQ: SCNI).

Scinai Immunotherapeutics Ltd. (NASDAQ: SCNI) is a biotechnology company focused on developing, manufacturing, and commercializing innovative immunotherapeutic products primarily for the treatment of infectious diseases and autoimmune diseases.

In collaboration with the prestigious Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences (MPG) and the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG), both in Germany, Scinai is developing a pipeline of innovative nanosized antibody (NanoAb) therapies addressing diseases underserved by current treatments and with large and growing markets, such as COVID-19, asthma and psoriasis.

NanoAbs, also known as VHH-antibodies or Nanobodies, are alpaca-derived nanosized antibodies that exhibit multiple significant competitive advantages over existing antibody therapies, including stability at high temperatures, superior binding affinity, more effective and convenient routes of administration and efficient production. Scinai is uniquely positioned to advance nanosized antibody innovation from R&D through commercialization.

The company’s highly experienced and successful pharmaceutical industry leadership team includes former senior executives from Novartis, GSK and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Since its founding, Scinai has executed eight clinical trials, including a seven-country, 12,400-participant Phase 3 trial of a prior influenza vaccine candidate, and it built, owns and operates a 20,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art GMP biologics manufacturing facility housing its laboratories, production facilities and offices.

Lead Candidate: Inhaled COVID-19 NanoAb

In December 2021, Scinai signed definitive agreements with the Max Planck Society – parent organization of the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences– and the UMG to enter a strategic collaboration for the development and commercialization of innovative COVID-19 NanoAbs.

The company is planning a rapid development path that leverages its expertise and capabilities in biological drug development and manufacturing. Scinai anticipates preclinical proof-of-concept results for an inhaled COVID-19 NanoAb by the end of 2022, with initial Phase 1/2a human clinical trial results expected in 2023.

The intended inhaled mechanism of delivery of Scinai’s COVID-19 NanoAb formulation may serve as a significant differentiator when compared to approved monoclonal antibodies, which are injected. Inhaled delivery has shown to be cheaper, more convenient and likely safer for patients and providers.

NanoAb Pipeline: Psoriasis, Asthma and More

The COVID-19 NanoAb development agreement is part of a broader five-year research collaboration agreement signed in March 2022 covering discovery, development and commercialization of NanoAbs for several other disease indications with large market medical needs, including asthma, psoriasis, macular degeneration and psoriatic arthritis.

Scinai has an exclusive worldwide license for development and commercialization of COVID-19 NanoAbs and exclusive options for similar worldwide licenses for NanoAbs for the above mentioned additional large market disorders currently underserved by approved therapeutic antibodies.

Academic research teams from MPG and UMG have verified strong affinity by the new NanoAbs to their biological target molecules and high thermostability. They have also demonstrated strong neutralization by several NanoAb candidates of their respective target molecules. Neutralization studies of the other NanoAbs are expected to begin later in 2022.

Based on the promising results, Scinai will focus development efforts beginning with the following NanoAbs:

• NanoAbs targeting IL-17 as drug candidates for the potential treatment of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis
• NanoAbs targeting IL-13 and NanoAbs targeting TSLP as drug candidates for the potential treatment of asthma

These are conditions for which the antibody target is validated by existing treatments and the mechanism of action is well understood. Both represent large medical needs and growing markets. Scinai anticipates preclinical proof-of-concept for at least one of these NanoAbs in 2023. This is in addition to the aforementioned human clinical Phase 1/2a for the inhaled COVID-19 NanoAb therapy, which is also anticipated in 2023.

CDMO Services

While NanoAb pipeline development is Scinai’s core focus, the company also offers its cGMP manufacturing facility, aseptic fill and finish suite, laboratories and experienced professionals for contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) services. This offering is designed to keep the Scinai team abreast of the latest industry developments and trends while building experience and generating revenue to support the company’s NanoAb pipeline development.

Market Opportunity

COVID-19 treatment, target of the company’s lead NanoAb therapy candidate, had an estimated market size of $22 billion in 2021.

Future Scinai drug candidates will target conditions with large markets growing at attractive CAGRs.

The global asthma treatment market was valued at $18.08 billion in 2019 and is projected to reach $26.01 billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 4.5% during the forecast period, according to Fortune Business Insights. The research firm predicts that the global psoriasis treatment market will grow from $26.37 billion in 2022 to $47.24 billion by 2029, exhibiting a CAGR of 8.7% over the forecast period.

Management Team

Amir Reichman is Scinai’s CEO. He previously was Head of Global Vaccines Engineering Core Technologies at GSK Vaccines in Belgium. Prior to that, he held leadership roles at Novartis Vaccines’ Global Vaccines Supply Chain Management organization. He was the first employee of NeuroDerm Ltd., a company focused on transdermal drug delivery, and served as Senior Scientist until his departure in 2009. He earned a M.Sc. in Biotechnology Engineering from Ben-Gurion University and an MBA in Finance and Health Care Management from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

Tamar Ben-Yedidia, Ph.D., is Chief Science Officer at Scinai. She has more than 30 years of experience in immunology, with specific expertise in the development of vaccines. She began her career with Biotechnology General Ltd., working on development of a recombinant Hepatitis-B vaccine. She later joined the Weizmann Institute of Science, working on the design of a peptide-based vaccine against several pathogens. She is widely published, with numerous refereed articles and invited reviews in various scientific journals. She received her Ph.D. from the Weizmann Institute.

Elad Mark is COO at Scinai. He has over 15 years of biotechnology industry experience encompassing diverse project stages including feasibility studies, conceptual and detailed design, commissioning, qualification and process validation. Prior to joining Scinai, he led Novartis’s $800 million investment in a biologics facility in Singapore. With Biopharmax and Antero, both global pharmaceutical engineering companies, he successfully led projects in Israel, China and Singapore. He holds a BSc. in Engineering from the Afeka Tel Aviv Academic College of Engineering and an MBA from the Open University of Israel.

Uri Ben-Or is CFO at Scinai. He has served as CFO with public life science companies traded on the TASE, OTC and Nasdaq. Ben-Or provides his services to Scinai through CFO Direct, a company he founded and for which he serves as CEO. He served as the VP of Finance of Glycominds, a leading biotechnology company, and as CFO of a spin-off from Telrad Networks. He also served as a Corporate Controller at Menorah Capital Markets and as an Auditor at PWC. He holds a B.A. in Business from the College of Administration, an MBA from Bar-Ilan University, and is a CPA.

Scinai Immunotherapeutics Ltd. (NASDAQ: SCNI), closed Thursday's trading session at $4.5, up 2.2727%, on 157,963 volume. The average volume for the last 3 months is 1.074M and the stock's 52-week low/high is $2.23/$15.50.

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Cepton Inc. (NASDAQ: CPTN)

The QualityStocks Daily Newsletter would like to spotlight Cepton Inc. (NASDAQ: CPTN).

Cepton Inc. (NASDAQ: CPTN) is a provider of state-of-the-art, intelligent, lidar-based solutions serving a range of markets, including automotive (ADAS/AV), smart cities, smart spaces and smart industrial applications. General Motors (NYSE:GM) has granted a series production award for Cepton’s lidar, the biggest such award to date in the automotive space. Cepton’s is the lidar component of GM’s Ultra Cruise autonomous driving platform. By leveraging its patented Micro Motion Technology (MMT®) lidar platform, the company develops reliable, scalable and cost-effective solutions that deliver long-range, high-resolution 3D perception for smart applications.

Cepton was established in 2016 by co-founders Dr. Jun Pei and Dr. Mark McCord. The company is headquartered in San Jose, California, and serves a fast-growing customer base through an international presence spanning North America, Germany, Japan, India and China.

Micro Motion Technology (MMT®)

Cepton was built from the ground up to meet key lidar industry challenges for mass market adoption. This company’s portfolio of proprietary technology is uniquely aimed at facilitating this industry growth through a combination of performance, reliability, affordability and design integration.

Key among its innovations is MMT®, a mirrorless, frictionless, rotation-free 3D imaging platform designed specifically for lidars. Its benefits for OEMs and system integrators include:

• Reliability – The durable design uses common, easily attainable materials.
• Versatility – The platform is capable of achieving near- to ultra-long range with a wide field of view.
• Efficiency – MMT® features a compact form factor, low power usage and inexpensive components.
• Scalability – Its simple design means that scale-up to high manufacturing volumes is easily attainable.

Because of their compact form factor, Cepton lidars are embeddable and ideally suited for advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) integration, whether behind windshield, in headlamp or in fascia.

Agreement with KOITO

KOITO Manufacturing Co. Ltd., the world’s premier Tier 1 auto lighting supplier, originally started an evaluation of Cepton’s MMT® based lidars in 2018. In 2020, KOITO made an investment in Cepton aimed at accelerating the company’s development and enabling KOITO’s industrialization of high-performance and high reliability lidar sensors for ADAS and autonomous vehicle (AV) applications.

Through this collaboration, Cepton was able to secure the largest ADAS lidar series production award[1] with General Motors as a sole source in the automotive space. The award covers GM vehicles for the initial period of 2023-2027.

On August 5, 2021, the two companies deepened their relationship when KOITO committed to invest a further $50 million in Cepton’s business through its participation in a Private Investment in Public Equity (PIPE) offering of shares of common stock of Growth Capital Acquisition Corp. in connection with Cepton’s recent merger.

Collaboration with GM

On July 13, 2021, Cepton announced that it had secured an ADAS lidar series production award from a leading, Detroit-based global automotive OEM – the biggest lidar production award by any OEM to any lidar company. It was later clarified that the OEM was General Motors, and Cepton’s lidar is part of GM’s ADAS Ultra Cruise system.

GM is “expected to deploy Cepton lidars in its next generation of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) across multiple vehicle classes and models – not just luxury cars.” As such, the agreement marks the potential for “an industry-first, mass-market adoption of lidar technology for automotive ADAS, with an anticipated deployment in consumer vehicles starting in 2023.”

On July 28, 2021, Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) distributed an article on Medium noting, “Ford has been engaged with Cepton almost since their inception in 2016, both for R&D collaboration and small-scale deployments. Cepton LiDAR are deployed in some of [Ford’s] smart city projects. Based on Ford’s guidance, Cepton delivered a custom version of their LiDAR to enable R&D on advanced ADAS features.”

Market Outlook

Driven by increasing development and adoption in automobile safety applications, environmental mapping and 3D-modeling, the global lidar market is forecast to experience considerable growth over the coming years. A research report published by MarketsAndMarkets suggests that the sector will grow to an estimated $3.4 billion by 2026, achieving a CAGR of 21.6% over the next five years.

The report further highlights increasing investments in lidar startups by automotive giants as a driver of growth opportunities in the sector, particularly in North America.

In 2020, ground-based lidar accounted for the lion’s share of the overall lidar market, and this trend is expected to continue as the automotive sector continues to rapidly advance adoption across the full spectrum of vehicle classes. One factor not to be underestimated is the high barrier of entry and the exceptionally long time required for automotive OEMs to vet and award a production win to a lidar company. It is a commonly held view that the over 50 lidar companies will inevitably coalesce into a handful serving all OEMs.

Cepton, having a head start through its established partnership with leading global OEM GM, is uniquely positioned to capitalize on this market growth in the years to come.

Management Team

Cepton’s founder-led team is made up of lidar industry pioneers with decades of collective experience across advanced lidar and imaging technologies.

Jun Pei, Ph.D., is the company’s CEO and Co-Founder. He is a technology specialist with a focus in optics and electronics. Prior to founding Cepton, Dr. Pei founded AEP Technology, a firm focused on developing advanced 3D optical instruments. He received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford University.

Mark McCord, Ph.D., is Cepton’s CTO and Co-Founder. Prior to founding Cepton, he led advanced development at KLA-Tencor. Dr. McCord also formerly served as an associate professor at Stanford University, where he earned his Ph.D. in electrical engineering.

Winston Fu, Ph.D., is the company’s CFO. Dr. Fu is the founder of Silicon Valley venture capital firm LDV Partners. Prior to joining Cepton, he served as CFO and Chairman of Active-Semi before its acquisition. Dr. Fu has also helped to build many technology companies as an entrepreneur and/or board member. He received his Ph.D. in applied physics from Stanford University, as well as an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

[1] Largest known ADAS lidar series production award based on number of vehicle models awarded

Cepton Inc. (NASDAQ: CPTN), closed Thursday's trading session at $2.58, even for the day, on 9,614 volume. The average volume for the last 3 months is 10,247 and the stock's 52-week low/high is $2.38/$8.90.

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